Pursuit of the Truth

1

“Eight hundred thousand something, eh..? No, looks like seven hundred thousand something…”

“Damn it all, we reached seven hundred thousand something just now! Do you know how to count?!”

As the bald crane and the Abyss Dragon shouted at each other, endless dust storms rose in the galaxy in front of them. They were due to meteors that were charging forth, but while these meteors might seem like stones at first glance, all those who looked closely would find that they actually had human faces.

These were clearly stone people. When they curled themselves into a ball, they would turn into meteors. At that moment, they were traveling forth and closing in on the bald crane and the Abyss Dragon. There was no end to them, and they numbered more than a hundred thousand.

The bald crane’s eyes went wide. As it let out a shrill shriek, it heard the Abyss Dragon’s voice behind it.

“Eight hundred thousand something. This time, I’m certain there are eight hundred thousand something of them. There’s no mistaking it.”

The bald crane turned around swiftly, and for the first time, looked behind, but when it did so, it nearly fainted. Even though no one would be able to tell with one glance just how many creatures there were, the densely packed and endless swarm of beasts behind the bald crane would allow all those with some experience and knowledge of how to count to be absolutely certain that there… were more than one million creatures.

“Well, damn me…”

The bald crane no longer knew how to express its indignation and grievance. With a loud roar, it charged into the distance. It had already decided that it would no longer lure the ferocious beasts in the area. Since there were already a million of them, then it would leave in the direction Su Ming had told it to go. The bald crane was so fast that it looked like a shooting star rushing through the galaxy.

“There’s only eight hundred thousand of them! There’s still a little more before we reach one million! Baldy, while you can be content with a few less crystals, I don’t want a belt!” When the Abyss Dragon saw that the bald crane was fleeing, it immediately knew what it decided to do and became nervous and extremely anxious.

The bald crane was burning with anger and ignored the Abyss Dragon’s words. It honestly did not want to pay any attention to this stupid mutt who did not know how to count and nearly brought about its death.

“Bald crane!” the Abyss Dragon roared.

“You idiot, you stupid mutt, y-y-you… Turn your head around and count properly. I could tell with just one glance that there is at least a million in that swarm of beasts, and you tell me there’s only eight hundred thousand?! Do you want to bring about my death?!” The bald crane roared, and without turning its head back, it continued charging forward.

The Abyss Dragon was momentarily stunned before it immediately became perturbed. It remembered that Yu Xuan had once told it that it had some weaknesses when it came to counting…

While feeling awkward, the Abyss Dragon immediately stopped speaking and lowered its head to follow behind the bald crane, charging into the distance with gritted teeth.

At that moment, if anyone cast their gaze across the galaxy, they would see an incredibly magnificent sight. There was a beast swarm that occupied a boundless expanse of galaxy, and it was a swarm rarely seen in Divine Essence Star Ocean. It seemed like there was an ocean roaring, tumbling, and chasing after the bald crane and Abyss Dragon.

There were all kinds of ferocious beasts in the swarm, and even the weakest possessed power in Heaven Cultivation Realm. In fact, some of the powerful beasts even had power equivalent to those in Solar Kalpa Realm, but this was not important. The number of beasts in the swarm would make even the pupils of a normal Master of Fate, Lives, and Death shrink.

When the numbers of a certain group reach a certain extent, the strength of the individuals in the group would no longer play a big role. The presence and impact brought by the entire group would crush all barriers.

In the mid of this, all living creatures and races would have to face the threat of having all of their kind massacred, especially…. when the amount of creatures in this swarm was not just one million. There was actually more than one million and five hundred thousand of them.

Even though there were countless ferocious beasts in Divine Essence Star Ocean and these one million five hundred thousand something beasts were just a small speck of the total that lived in this small area, to Heaven Traversers, who only numbered to one hundred thousand something, this would be a disaster that their tribe had never faced before.

Even after they had lived in the inner parts for countless years, they had never met a swarm like this. In the past, there would only be form a hundred thousand something up to hundreds of thousands of beasts that would attack. This was the limit. There would also only be one kind of creature that attacked them. Hence, the presence brought by a sea of beasts like this, formed by multiple species and many ferocious beasts that usually moved alone, could crush all forms of willpower.

With its obsession with crystals, the bald crane rushed towards Heaven Traversers in long charges, without caring about its own fatigue, with a will that screamed that it would not turn back without getting its crystals, and with a fearless expression akin to the tragic heroes in songs.

The misery it felt was something that only it knew, but compared to crystals, all of this turned into excitement within the bald crane’s heart.

“Fifty million crystals! Fifty million crystals… all mine! Damn it all, it’s just luring the monsters, right? It’s just about attracting these beasts’ attention, right?! I’ve been doing this since ages ago… Huh? Why would I say I’m already used to it?” As the bald crane continued fleeing, it growled, and as it did so… it discovered a familiar feeling!

This was a feeling that made it think that it had often fled with such a large swarm of ferocious beasts in the past. This thought seemed to be buried in the depths of its memories, not able to appear during all other types of life-threatening dangers. Only in certain uniquely familiar situations would it rise up to the forefront of the bald crane’s mind.

‘Could it be that I often did things that made others bristle in anger, and was always hunted down?’ The bald crane blinked in surprise. With its understanding of itself, it seemed like this… was actually highly possible.

As the bald crane mulled over it, it turned its head around and roared based on that familiar feeling it had in its heart. “Come, you bunch of bastards! Come chase after your Grandpa Crane! Did you see it, you bastards?! I can still run!” The bald crane was facing the endless sea of beasts and moving backwards. It even noticed to its shock that it was actually moving faster in this manner…

‘Could it be that I truly did this often in the past..?’

The bald crane was feeling slightly excited. It no longer just flew, but as it flapped its wings, it started swaying left and right, flying in a curve. Because of it, it discovered that not only did it become faster, it gradually discovered a feeling in the depths of its heart.

As it cackled loudly, the bald crane even twisted its body. While speaking, it even started clicking its tongue continuously at the swarm of beasts chasing after them with bloodshot eyes, in a manner as if it was spitting in their faces.

“Heh, you bunch of dudes on fire, I just looted your nest and kidnapped the beautiful lass among you, you know?! Come on! Chase after me! I’ll trounce all of you!

“You too, you golems! What now? You’re even glaring at me! Oh wow~ One of these days, I’ll disassemble all of you and use your body parts to build my house! Hmm..? I seem to have done something like this in the past,” the bald crane instinctively said. As it did, the familiar feeling became even stronger, and its body became even faster. In fact, its actions became even more practiced. It continued ‘striking poses’, and a mocking look even appeared on its face without its knowledge.

In fact, it even came to an abrupt halt, and when the swarm of beasts were about to submerge it, it let out a strange cry, shook its butt, cursed, moved its body, and widened the distance between them once again. It occasionally moved by swaying left, then right, and sometimes even used its claws to make provocative gestures. Those movements, those expressions, and those actions had long ago stunned the Abyss Dragon when it saw them.

There were plenty of descriptions that could be used to describe the bald crane at that moment, but if it was to pick the most accurate and direct one, then there were only two choices.

Frivolous…

Despicable crane…

The response to the bald crane’s actions were roars that were almost connected to each other. Those roars came from the entire swarm of beasts. Their voices were like waves that shook the entire galaxy.

“Louder!” The bald crane became excited. That familiar feeling had become stronger, and it had even almost forgotten about the crystals. As the swarm of beasts roared behind it, the bald crane began to shout loudly.

The Abyss Dragon watched the bald crane with admiration shining in its eyes. It had never thought that the sleazy crane would have such courage and that it would be able to show such a sight on this day.

Filled with a despicable, frivolous air, the bald crane triggered the madness within the sea of beasts. This was no longer them simply attracted by the God Ascension Nectar. In fact, it could even be said that if the bald crane had acted this way since the start, then even without the God Ascension Nectar, it would still have been able to complete the task Su Ming had given to it… and it might have even been able to lure even more ferocious beasts.

Su Ming opened his eyes in the galaxy and found himself admiring the bald crane’s courage. In truth, if he was in that position, he did not believe that he would do any better than the bald crane.

‘There are specialists in every single profession in the world. This crane… is an oddball, all right… Could it be that before it lost its memories, it often did things like these?’ Su Ming was absorbed in his thoughts.

The bald crane was flying in a frivolous manner in the galaxy. The smug expression and excited look on its face made it seem like it enjoyed luring a million beasts very much. It continued shaking its butt and making provocative gestures with its claws, even occasionally shouting loudly. Coupled with its contemptuous expression, the bald crane became the most dazzling existence in the galaxy. The sea of beasts behind it were driven completely mad and chased after it even more quickly, as if they were no longer chasing the bald crane for the God Ascension Nectar, but were instead charging forward to tear apart that detestable creature alive.

The Abyss Dragon’s admiration grew stronger. Several days later, this admiration rose to fanaticism when the bald crane stepped into Heaven Traversers’ territory and turned around to let out a loud roar.

“Hey, you bastards, we’re here! Trample this place, wreak havoc in this place. No matter what race they belong to, keep the pretty lasses for me! Find all the crystals and treasures here, and then send them all back to Whooping Crane Mountain!

“Damn it all, we’re occupying this place!”

The bald crane turned its head around and roared at the sea of beasts. The excitement on its face reached its peak, and once it finished shouting these words, it became perplexed. It seemed like… these words only caused that familiar feeling to become stronger.

ROAR!

The roars from the one million beasts shook the entire galaxy and reverberated through the entire cosmos, rousing countless Heaven Traversers from their sleep. The Abyss Dragon also started roaring loudly while looking at the bald crane with a fanatic expression.

At that moment, those who did not know the details of what was going on would definitely believe that the bald crane was the leader of the sea of beasts… Its presence, its frivolous attitude, and its expression all exuded the temperament of the leader of beasts.

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